


Real

by MissAdoration



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Recovery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 08:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5701444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAdoration/pseuds/MissAdoration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deep down somewhere in his mind, he knew who this person was that was speaking to him. Could this really be the same person? Could this be the one he fell in love with?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iamproudlysmile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamproudlysmile/gifts).



> 2015 Romanogers secret santa gift. This also incorporates some stuff from The Hunger Games

Natasha was on edge.

No, on edge didn't even begin to describe what was wrong with her.

She was fearful.

When Alexander Pierce said that whoever got in the way of trying to stop him from finding out who killed Nick Fury would regret it, he meant it.

And he meant it well.

She and Steve tried to tip off Pierce and made him believe that Nick Fury had been murdered. Pierce came after both of them. Clint set her free, after she spent five long and sleepless nights in a cold jail cell with minimal food and water that tasted like garbage. However, Steve had been sent to The Fridge, which was a classified, and highly secured SHIELD facility.

Even though she was staying with Clint in one his apartments, she was still fearful that Pierce would come after her and send her to some prison facility halfway around the world, or even worse, kill her.

A long two weeks later, when sleeping with Clint became a requirement for keeping the nightmares away, Clint, who had come back from a trip to the store for groceries and things that they needed, was immediately greeted by Natasha.

She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Nat, you Ok?" he asked setting the bags on the ground to wrap his arms around her.

"Fu-Fu-Fury's a-a-live," she stammered.

"What?" he asked.

"He's in y-y-your apartment."

Clint picked up the grocery bags and went inside to find Nick Fury, dressed in his dark attire, sitting in the living room chair.

"I don't remember giving you a key," he said trying to stay calm.

"You really think I need one?" Fury asked.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to ask a favor. We need to get Captain Rogers back from The Fridge. Wanted to ask if you'd come."

Clint looked at Natasha instantly. The thought of leaving her, at least with her in her current state of mind, was terrifying. What if something happened to her while he was gone, or even worse, what happened to him? Could Natasha survive on her own?

"I don't think Nat's ready for any missions yet, Sir," Clint answered looking back at the director.

"It would just be you and me. I can't risk losing three of my best agents."

Clint looked at Natasha again, silently asking if this was a good idea. Slowly, she nodded her head.

"Save him, and bring him home to me," she said wrapping her arms around him. Clint returned the gesture and held her tight.

"I will," he whispered into her hair. "I promise he and I will both come home."

"You better," she sobbed. Clint kissed the top of her head.

The following morning, Clint and Fury left for The Fridge, leaving Natasha alone in Clint's apartment with Maria Hill keeping an eye on things.

* * *

The mission was a success.

Well, almost a success.

Pierce detected that they were there and nearly tried to kill all of them.

To make things even more horrifying, Fury, with the help of Maria, arranged for Natasha to view the extraction from one of SHIELD's remaining security cameras. With terrified eyes, she watched as Clint busted open the door to Steve's cell. She heard shots being fired as they tried to escape. She even felt her heart stop when the footage was lost and the communications links went dead.

She cried herself to sleep. She had lost the three important people in her life: Clint, the man who didn't kill her like he had been ordered to do; Steve, the man who loved her; and Fury, the man who gave her a second chance. More importantly, the organization that set her straight, was gone. HYDRA was in charge now, and that meant one horrifying thing:

Pierce would come for her and turn her into his weapon.

* * *

The following morning, she forced herself out of bed to do the unthinkable.

She was going to surrender herself to Pierce before he forced her to.

Just as she was leaving the apartment, Maria greeted her at the door.

"They're back," she said.

"Wha-what?" she stammered.

"They got in last night."

"Clint?"

"He's fine. He just got shot in the leg," Maria answered.

Quickly breathing a sigh relief, she pushed her way past her and rushed out the door.

The second she arrived at the medical bay she frantically looked for Clint.

"Nat!" he called. Natasha looked in the direction the voice was coming from. The second she spotted him, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Burying her face into his shoulder, she cried silent tears as he held her close and tight.

"Are you alright?" she sobbed.

He didn't answer her. She pulled away and looked into his eyes.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I'll be OK, but Steve. He uh. He…" Clint stopped talking. He couldn't find the words to say.

"Agent Romanoff?" Nick asked. Natasha turned her head and looked to where Fury was standing, which was by a door leading into one of the exam rooms. "He's in here. The knockout gas we used on the guards knocked him out too, but he's waking up,"

Nick opened the door for her and she stepped inside. Steve was sitting with his back to her.

"Steve," she whispered as she slowly walked around to see his face. When she did, she gasped. It was bruised in various places; some were darker than others.

Before she could blink, Steve reached up and grabbed her neck and pushed her back into the wall.

"Steve!" Clint shouted trying to pull him off. "Get off of her!"

Nick came over to help, but Steve fought back and pushed them both into the opposite wall. He then jumped down on top of Natasha and harshly grabbed her neck.

Something hit his head and he released his grip.

And Natasha blacked out.

* * *

When Natasha awoke a couple hours later, she immediately tried to break free of whatever was around her neck.

"No. No, Nat. They're swollen, don't touch," Clint soothed as she breathed heavily through her nose.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Clint stopped her.

"Don't try to talk, just calm down."

Natasha looked at him with tired eyes. She was scared of what had just happened. To make things worse, she was scared for what Pierce had done to Steve.

"Tell them she's awake," she heard Clint say to a nurse.

"Shh, it's OK. He'll be OK. I just had to get him off you."

A few seconds later, a couple nurses and Nick entered the room. Clint had elevated Natasha's bed a little ways and was holding her hand tightly.

'It's called a hijacking or fear conditioning. They tortured him, stripped down his identity, and then all that fear is then redirected at memories of one person," he explained.

"So, he doesn't remember who Nat is?" Clint asked.

"No. Pierce turned him into a weapon. To kill her."

Natasha stared with wide eyes at the director.

"Can you reverse it?" Clint asked.

"It's new terrain we're dealing with here. Fear is the most difficult thing to overcome, but with the help of the rehabilitation team I've put together, I'm optimistic," Nick answered. Natasha blinked that she understood.

"Sleep. I'll continue to stay with you,' Clint said kissing her forehead.

Natasha breathed a sigh of relief and allowed sleep to claim her.

About an hour later, Natasha awoke and slowly got out of bed. She then made her way to the room where Steve was. What she saw made her heart stop. Steve was strapped down to a bed by his wrists, ankles, and lower abdomen. He was struggling violently to break free. She was thankful she couldn't hear his screams. It would remind her of the numerous times screams escaped her lips whenever she had a nightmare or when she was tortured in the Red Room.

Slowly she made her way back to her room and let sleep claim her. The only time she awoke again was when Clint came in to sit by her side and keep her company.

And for that she was grateful.

* * *

The collar was removed the following day.

Clint held Natasha's hand in his as the doctor gently felt around her neck. "Sorry, some areas are still very sore," he said kindly when he heard a gasp escape her lips. "Try and speak."

"Natasha Romanoff," Natasha answered with a strained voice.

"It'll take time for your voice to return to normal. Your vocal chords are still swollen."

"How's Steve?" Clint asked.

"Whatever Pierce injected into him is wearing off, but his memories of Agent Romanoff are still jumbled and twisted around. Once she gets more of her voice back, we're going to try a little exercise called 'real, or not real'. Captain Rogers will say something and she will respond if what he is saying is real or not real," the doctor explained. Natasha and Clint both nodded their heads that they understood.

"Can she leave the medical bay now?" Clint asked.

"Yes. Let her go back to her quarters and get cleaned up," the doctor answered.

"What about food? Can she eat anything?"

"Small bites of soft food only for a few days."

Clint nodded as the doctor left the room. With gentle hands, he helped Natasha change out of the hospital gown and into something more comfortable.

Once Natasha reached her quarters, she headed to the small bathroom to take a long and hot shower. The water felt hotter against her throat due to how sore she was.

Clint was waiting for her when she returned. On the small table he has a plate of food, pasta with red sauce.

To her surprise, it tasted really good, and not like the food in the dining hall that was located here.

"Thank you," Natasha said. Her voice was getting a little stronger.

"You're welcome. Don't worry, Steve will be back to normal in no time. He's Captain America, and Captain America can overcome anything," Clint said confidently. Natasha smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. Clint gently hugged her back so he didn't hurt her neck.

* * *

Three days later, Natasha was given permission to see Steve. Clint stayed outside the room just in case he needed to pull her out of there should the worst happen.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in the medical bay at SHIELD," she answered. Steve looked at her with a puzzled look.

"I thought SHIELD was compromised."

"It is," Natasha responded sadly.

"Yeah, because of you. You spilled all of SHIELD's secrets onto the internet," Steve answered as he started to get agitated.

"Steve, I had to. I had to expose how evil HYDRA was," she said trying to stay calm.

"No, you're Black Widow. You're a murderer, and a traitor. Hawkeye should've killed you like he was supposed to!" he shouted as he pulled at the restraints.

"Steve, please," she sobbed.

"Get her out of there," the doctor ordered. The door opened and Clint went in to escort her out since she was too scared to move. Once she was out and the door was closed, Clint led her back to her quarters where he held her tight while she sobbed into his chest.

"What did they do to him?" she sobbed.

"Shh. Shh. We'll work on it," he soothed. She shivered and shook in his arms. Clint held her tighter to help calm her down.

* * *

It wasn't for another week before Natasha was granted permission to see Steve again. This time, he wasn't restrained to a bed. Instead they met in the training room. His hands weren't bound, but medical staff, a few other agents, and Clint were nearby in case something happened.

Together the two of them worked side by side, doing various exercises and fighting stances. Even Clint joined in on the action to loosen up his muscles and to strengthen his leg.

When they were done, they sat across from each other and sipped on their water bottles.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked.

Steve took a couple slow breaths before speaking. "They injected some kind of venom into me. Made my memories all twisted around and crazy. They made me forget you."

Natasha felt a tear slide down her cheeks. Would Steve ever remember who she was and that they loved each other?

Steve continued on. "Some of my memories are coming back, but they're only the ones from the past, like before I met you and before I became who I am today."

"I can tell you who you are. You are Captain Steven Grant Rogers. You lead a team called the Avengers. I am an Avenger as well as Clint Barton," Natasha explained.

"You're Black Widow. Real, or not real?" he asked

"Real."

"You're also Natasha Romanoff. Real, or not real."

"Real," she whispered. Steve closed his eyes to think. Deep down somewhere in his mind, he knew who this person was that was speaking to him. Could this really be the same person? Could this be the one he fell in love with?

"I said I trusted you to save my life. I then fell in love with you. Real, or not real?"

Natasha closed her eyes as the memory of the two of them sitting in Sam Wilson's room came back to her mind. Doing her best to fight back tears, she leaned in and closed the space between the two of them and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Real."


End file.
